Star Wars LOTF: Training Session
by Aro Koron
Summary: One of Jacen and Lumiya's training sessions onboard the "Anakin Solo," who will be Jacen's sacrifice?


Training Session

_Crack_…Lumiya pulled her lightwhip back getting ready to let out a torrent of dark side energy, she spread her fingers wide and the air started to break, building tension. This is exactly what Jacen had been waiting for. As soon as Lumiya let the dark side pour through her body down her arm and out the tips of her fingers, Jacen too raised his hand.

Lightning shot out from both force-users connecting in the air, cracking atoms and increasing the static within the training room.

Jacen pushed out with the force, unleashing his rage -which, according to Lumiya was the true nature of the dark side, along with passion, and fear- pinning the Dark Lady of the Sith against the wall. He started to magnify his presence in the force and pushed down on Lumiya's mind, using a battle meditation technique in melee combat.

Lumiya was pleased with this. _He is creative, that's good he'll need that in his trials to come._

Jacen raised his other hand and started to close his fingers, Darth Vader's signature move, a force choke.

Lumiya dropped her lightwhip and ended the lightning, reaching for her throat with both hands, eyes bulging and for the first time realized that Jacen hadn't even used his lightsaber yet. _What's he getting at? Is he trying to kill me?_ Jacen started to walk forward; Lumiya squirmed and tried to command him to stop but couldn't talk. _Of course he means to kill, he is destined to be a Sith Lord after all but not yet Jacen, you're not ready yet._

There were only a few seconds left, Lumiya knew, before she was gone, dead. She summoned the last of her force reserves and pushed with her mind, since her hands were still at her throat. She didn't expect what happened next, Jacen leaned forward as if stabbed in the gut by a hydrospanner and flew into the back wall at what seemed like lightspeed.

Jacen's hold on her disappeared instantly and she fell to the floor coughing. She heard Jacen coughing too, then heard him struggling to get up.

"Jacen-wait!" Her words were barely audible but she knew he had heard her and yet there still came the _snap-hiss_ of a lightsaber igniting. _He heard…_ She thought to herself feeling her spine shudder. Reaching her arm out, looking around for her lightwhip, too weak to summon it with the force. There it was! She grabbed it and stumbled to her feet to find Jacen coming at her in a full sprint, she grunted. _He probably figures it easer to finish me now instead of later when I could be more of a nuisance…You still have much to learn Jacen…_

Then Jacen stopped just out of reach of Lumiya's lightwhip. "How did you do that to me?" Jacen was almost furious at Lumiya for making a fool of him like that. No matter though no one saw it, in fact there was no one around for at least thirteen parsecs. He also found himself torn between striking Lumiya down right there or laughing at his mistake. However, he remembered sith are not controlled by their emotions and he needed to figure out what his _mistake _was.

"I'm glad to see you're as surprised as I am." Lumiya's response was sincere, she was genuinely surprised, at first, but she realized what had happened.

"I admit it caught me off guard."

"Now don't be foolish _Jacen_, you feel like a nerf head right now," Lumiya saw Jacen wince, inwardly though. He didn't show it in his body language but rather in his eyes, with that maniacal stare. "Well don't, we all make mistakes."

"Well _I _don't."

"In due time you won't but you still have yet to make your sacrifice. Until then you are just a slightly above average force-user."

"Right, the _sacrifice…_" Jacen let the words linger bringing a bad taste to the air. _Why does she keep bringing it up, she knows I don't need to be reminded. Unless she finds it amusing, of how much it's eating at me._ "Well are you going to tell me or what?"

"Fine, if you can't spot something so obvious then I guess I have no other choice than to shed light on the issue." Lumiya paused a moment letting the tension build, Jacen hadn't extinguished his lightsaber yet. "You got caught up in the moment, bloodthirsty, and in for a quick instant you dropped your force barrier. You do see the number of problems this brings, right?"

"Of course, if I let my barrier down then anyone is free to hurt me with the force." Jacen said, only half grasping the concept.

Lumiya force-leapt into the air coming up over top Jacen and started flying down into a drop kick. Jacen raised his lightsaber getting ready to bring it down of Lumiya's exposed leg. Instead of connecting her foot to his chest or his lightsaber coming down to amputate her leg, Jacen's shoulder blades became cold and knotted with danger sense. Lumiya pulled her leg back and push off Jacen's body with the force to reverse her flip then cracked her whip.

Jacen had expected to lose a limb or end up dead but quickly realized that the lightwhip was not what had caused his danger sense to go off.

A wooden homogeny stool came hurling at Jacen and hit him in the back of the head. He fell forward, dropping his lightsaber and heard the _whoosh_ of it extinguish as it hit the ground. Sound flooded Jacen's ears as he lay on the floor temporarily paralyzed. Yes, sound had flooded his ears though he couldn't hear anything, he found that odd.

Then he felt a rush and everything came back to him, his sight, hearing, and movement. But it was too late Lumiya had already summoned his lightsaber and laid her foot on top of his back.

"I hope for the galaxies sake you realize the second mistake in letting down your force barrier." When Jacen didn't say anything but simply stared back at her, Lumiya could tell he did not know what she meant. "Your anger, your bloodthirst, and also you underestimated me. You must not become a slave to your emotions or you will be destroyed just like Palpatine was."

"I see your point, and I will work on that. Now can you get off me so I can get up?"

"Why? Are you in a hurry?"

"Actually, yes, I am. I have a meeting with Chief Omas and Admiral Niathal."

Lumiya removed her foot and helped Jacen up. "I suppose you'll want this too." She handed him his lightsaber.

"Thanks," He took the lightsaber but kept it in hand instead of clipping it on his belt. This did not go unnoticed by Lumiya.

"I find it disturbing and also refreshing that even after everything you still do not trust me. This is good; you will need this when you take on an apprentice."

"I already have an app-," Lumiya cut him off and this irritated Jacen

"I mean a _sith_ apprentice, Ben cannot be your sith apprentice. He is too caring, too-," This time it was Jacen who cut Lumiya off.

"Weak…That's what you were going to say right? ' He is too caring, too weak.'"

"Actually I was going to say, too much like his father. I do not doubt the boy's strength." And with that, Lumiya turned to leave but Jacen wasn't done.

"That's not all there is to it though, is there?" Jacen sounded desperate for information.

Lumiya rolled her eyes. _This again…_ "I can not tell you what I don't know. I'm sorry but if Ben is destined to be your sacrifice then I will find out _after_ you kill him. The force has revealed nothing to me." A pause then, "A word of advice though," Lumiya turned her head to face Jacen. "If Ben is your sacrifice, then when Luke and Mara come for you don't become a slave to your emotions. It would be a shame if all this was for nothing, if you ended up letting your force barrier down and were slain."

"I won't." Two simple words but they could have a thousand meanings. For instance, it could have meant 'I won't sacrifice Ben Skywalker, my apprentice, my cousin, my _friend_' or it could have meant 'I will not become a slave to my emotions, I will not become another Palpatine.' But Lumiya knew Jacen well enough by now to know what he meant was this 'I will not fail.' Yes, she was sure of it now Jacen Solo was destined to be a Sith Lord and nothing was going to stop him.


End file.
